Back in November, I wrote a predictive article about Manhattan real estate called:

Boom Time in the Big Apple

An excerpt: 

Real estate is a local business driven by local market conditions and bought and sold (mostly) by local people.

How about a market that is fueled by an industry that has experienced steady wage/earnings growth since 2003 and is about to have its best year in ten years?   That would be the securities industry and that industry is headquartered in New York City.

This article, published today in the Wall Street Journal, highlights that investment bankers, traders, and brokers have experienced a boom this year.  They're about to be rewarded in early 2007 with HUGE bonuses!  Where do you think those bonuses will go?  Art?  Maybe.  Fancy Cars? Well, maybe but parking is so tough it seems almost silly to buy a Bentley in NYC.  Exotic Travel?  Maybe, but it's hard to believe that the investment bankers will spend a month or two in Fiji when the market is heating up.  You gotta make hay when the sun shines.

Over on Curbed.com, I saw this piece:

Ask Curbed: Is There a 'Frenzy' in the Market?

It doesn't always happen that quickly.  When it does, I toot my horn. 

READ:  Reminder:  Real Estate Really Is LOCAL by Kaushik Sirkar